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step into the room and stopped dead. “Why, you…!” She felt the blood rushing to her face. “You charlatan! You trickster! There is nothing wrong with you at all!”
    Benn was not lying in his bed, weak and suffering, as she had expected. He was barefoot, wrapped only in a skimpy sheet, and walking very softly up and down his bedchamber. As he walked, he was stretching and flexing the muscles of his injured shoulder and arm. Suzanne’s carefully applied bandages and the sling she had fashioned were hanging loose against his naked torso.
    He had played her for a fool!

Chapter Five
     
    Ben was shocked to see the locked door in the middle of the side wall swing open. Suzanne stepped into the room, and seemed to take in the situation at a glance. Her face became flushed with anger, overlaid with humiliation at the way she had been deceived. He could not blame her.
    But when she started to rage at him, her voice rising with every accusation, he knew she had to be stopped before the suspicions of the watcher below were aroused. Since she had now given him the best possible excuse for yielding to his baser instincts, he simply pulled her against his body and kissed her, hard.
    She squirmed against him, trying to free herself, but without success. Ben might not yet be fully fit, but he was still much stronger than Suzanne. He was certain that she was not afraid, however. She was much too angry for that.
    He wrapped his arms more tightly around her body, ignoring the pain that nagged in his shoulder. It was worth a little pain to hold her. The warmth of her glorious body against his bare skin was sheer delight as was the subtle scent of lavender on her clothes and in her pale gold curls.
    “Mmm.” A groan of pleasure escaped him. It was the last thing he had intended.
    That sound had a strange effect on Suzanne. First, she stopped trying to break free, and then she slid her arms around Ben’s waist. What had been anger seemed to be turning into desire. Instead of fighting his kiss, she was returning it, and with more innocent passion than Ben would have dreamt possible.
    He groaned again, as he gentled and then deepened the kiss. He had never known anything like this. It was as if he were drowning. Everything else was forgotten, everything except his driving need to taste her luscious mouth and to show her the pleasure that mutual passion could bring.
    When he touched the tip of his tongue to the tender flesh inside her bottom lip, he felt a great shudder run through her whole body. She reached up to put her arms around his neck and pull his mouth closer to hers.
    “Argh!” Ben’s cry of pain was swallowed in Suzanne’s kiss, but it broke the spell of their mindless desire. They pulled apart, both gasping for breath and beginning to gabble apologies.
    “I hurt you. I’m sorry, I…”
    “I’m sorry, I should not have…”
    They stopped in the same moment. And then Suzanne began to laugh, a joyous sound that somehow reminded Ben of pealing bells under a pure blue sky. The picture was perfect. Just like Suzanne.
    Ben touched a finger to her cheek. Her eyes widened. Her laughter died away, leaving her lips curved in a knowing smile.
    “Forgive me,” he said quietly. “I should not have done that. But you were starting to scream at me and I had to stop you. There is a man down below…”
    “How did you find out?” she exclaimed sharply. Her smile had vanished.
    Ben eased his left arm round her shoulders and began to stroke the top of her arm. She did not resist. She even leaned towards him, as the tension began to leave her. “I am a spy,” he said simply. “It’s my business to keep watch.”
    “Even when you’re supposed to be too ill to rise from your bed?”
    “Even then.” He dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead and let her go. Then he crossed to the window and glanced out. “He has gone. The danger is over. But I do apologize for having deceived you. I assure you I meant no harm.”
    “What you